the world are due to be shown, most united in some way by that theme of peace just a short distance from the most heavily militarized border. and there's much more to be found on our website. the address to click onto is aljazeera.com. pop francis heads to the u.s. after wrapping up his visit to cuba. the security is unprecedented. volkswagen's emission crisis gets bigger. the company is saying 11 million vehicles worldwide are affected. china's president promises reforms, but technology and cyber security concerns threaten to overshadow his trip to the u.s.

this is al jazeera america life from new york city. pope francis is on his way to the u.s. right now. he shook hands with fidel castro before leaving cuba in the last hour. it took him to havana to the castros birthplace. during the final mass, he asked cubans to pray from him. we have the report from havana on why this visit is so significant. >> reporter: pope francis wrapped up his historic three-city four-day tour in cuba. this is the pope's first visit to the ilan. it's amidst historic changes in this country. just last week we had this further opening of restrictions in terms of what american businesses can do down here in terms of hiring cuban employees and opening offices. this is something pope francis

helped broker and achieve. he also has his own agenda. cuba has a tenuous history when it comes to religion in this country. priests were driven out and church property was confiscated. part of the agenda has been to get the catholic church as more of a bigger part of cuban life here. during the course of the sermon, he paid tribute to what it took to get to this point. >> translator: the soul of the cuban people, as we have just heard, was forged amid suffering and privation that can't suppress the faith. >> reporter: it has spanish colonial roots so catholicism was a big part of it. he thanked them for keeping the faith. pope francis is also using terminology familiar with cubans. he talked about a revolution of sorts.

>> translator: a revolution comes about through tenderness, through the joy which always becomes closeness and compassion and leads us to get involved in and to serve the life of others. >> there's also criticism of this pope as he traveled this island he made no mention of human rights or political prisoners on the ithanked. that was much to the sha grinning of political prisoners here and dissidents here detained durlg the visit not allowed to attend the ceremony. it's something though in miami and new jersey and part of that cuban-american lobby will point to and say, you know, this is still castro's cuba. it was a wasted opportunity for many. pop francis may not be overplaying the han in some ways. he helped to broker this new relationship between cuba and the united states and he didn't make mention of the embargo. as he travels to the united states and meets with president obama and addresses congress,

the first papal address of congress in history, there's really a lot of unanswered questions. >> david in havana. an unprecedebrunprecedented sho security will greet the pope in america this afternoon. his six-day visit taking him to washington, then new york and philadelphia prompting what's been called the largest coordinated security effort in u.s. history. paul beman has more. >> reporter: this is what makes preking pope francis such a challenge. his habit of breaking away from his detail to be with the peechl. on his visit to the u.s. the swiss guard will be beefed up by a battery of u.s. agencies coordinated by the secret service. the pontiff begins his tour in washington, d.c., where streets within a three-block radius of the capitol will be shut down for the pope's speech to congress. after washington the pope travels to new york city, where

thousands of police and federal agents are preparing not ornl for the poep as visit but at the same time for the u.n. general assembly. >> we believe that this event is going to be the largest security challenge that the department and city have faced in that in addition to the pope, we will have 170 confirmed world leaders in this city during the period of time of the general assembly. that's 90% of the world leaders in this city at one time. >> reporter: major streets will be shout town during the two-day tour of new york, and the pontiff won't be riding around in the normal popemobile. instead, he's cruising in a modified jeep wrangler. the last city he visits is philadelphia for the festival of families. security fences have been put up, and extra surveillance cameras into place. they say every tool available is being used. philadelphia is the venue where

they're are the mes people. it's the venue where if things go wrong it's here because it's outdoor and there's millions of individuals. in all of three cities the faa is restricting the air space and banning drone flights. anyone hoping to get close to the pope will have to leave that selfie stick at home. al jazeera, new york. earlier we spoke with john o'brien, the president of catholics for choice. he says there are symbolism in the trip starting in cuba and ends in the united states. >> i think this pope wants to bring people together. it's no secret that the vatican did play a role in cuban/american relations that led to the current thawing of the situation. there's also something between the fwap, between rich and or.po we're very fortunate in the united states. i think that this idea of unity is definitely a central theme of the papacy of pope francis.

i think catholics are very excited with the visit of pope francis to the united states. i think non-catholics are also excited and curious about this man with great simplicity in his message but also great feeling of genuine affection and humb humblene humbleness. people are curious about it. today he touches out at an air force becaused out of washington, d.c. tomorrow he meets president obama in the morning. on friday he addresses the united nations, and on thursday interestingly he talks to the u.s. congress. what's interesting here is that i think that on that political level some people have been asking the question, so what is pope francis going to tell congress about policy? i think that this is a huge mistake. the reality with pope francis is he speaks less about political points than he is about past oral issues. >> despite his political statements about the environment, he thinks the

message to congress will be more about caring for the planet and less about policy. stay with al jazeera all week. we will bring you complete coverage of the pope's visit to the u.s. china's president has arrived in seattle for his first state visit. his plane touched down a short time ago. he tackled one issue head-on before leaving for the u.s. in an interview in this morning's "wall street journal" he denied his government our chinese business are behind cyber attacks in the u.s. we're in seattle with a look at the agenda. >> reporter: the chinese president is on his way to washington, d.c. it's the first ever formal state visit to the u.s. before he meets with president obama, he spends three day here in the seattle area. why the state of washington is a first stop joefr, it's high tech trade and money. here is former u.s. ambassador

to china and governor gary lock talking about the cham lennings of engaging with a powerful trading partner like that. >> obviously, a concern about cyber security. the lack of a level plays field in china. skrilgss again foreign firms as well as the lack of a rule of law and inadequate protections of our intellectual property and trade secrets. >> the president is following the example of past chinese leaders. he's the fourth to make a point of putting seattle on the itinerary. we'll have more tonight on his visit. al jazeera, seattle. we're learning more about a u.s. citizen in chinese detention for six months. security offices secretly det n detained sandy gill yam in march when she was in the southern china -- in southern chinz for

business. they didn't formally arrest her for stealing state secrets until sunday. her muss kept the case quite until now because he was trying to get her released behind the scenes. david petraeus made a formal apology this morning since stepping down from head of the cia. >> as such, it's appropriate to give my remarks this morning with an apology. one that i have offered before, but nonetheless one that i want to repeat to you and the american public. four years ago i made a serious mistake. it was a violation of the trust placed in me, and a breach of the values to which i'd been committed throughout my life. >> petraeus spoke before the senate armed services committee a few hours ago. he resigned in 2012 after having an affair with a writer. petraeus called the scandal a

very difficult chapter in his life. a price hike that costs the u.s. economy billions. how react to one drug's price tag sent investors running.

senate democrats have blocked a bill stopping most late-term abortions, republicans failed to gain the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster. this is the second time that

democrats have derailed an antiabortion bill since the release of undercover planned parent hood video this summer. once again, republican presidential hopeful ben carson is doing damage control. he said sunday he would not advocate a muslim as president. he spoke in ohio today to clarify what he meant. >> there's no question that our constitution and our traditions have a judeo-christian pace. there's no question about that. i don't think there's any roon we should deny that. the fist amendment is very important. the freedom of religion. it so happens that the majority of people in this country, you know, do believe in judeo-christian values, and there's no way that we should suppress their beliefs, and they should be able to live according to their faith. we never should have a theorocacy. >> yesterday he said he would support a muslim candidate who

denounced sharia law. several groups have called on carson to drop out. the ceo of volkswagen is offering another apology as the company struggles with an emissions test scandal. >> translator: i sincerely apologize to all our clients and the authorities and the entire public for our wrongful behavior. >> today the german automaker revealed that 11 million diesel cars worldwide are affected. the epa says the german carmaker used software that tricked emissions testing equipment. volkswagen is setting aside $7 billion to cover the experiences. rick newman, a columnist with yahoo! finance put those billions of dollars in perspective. >> reporter: $7 billion is probably in line with what general motors is ultimately going to have to pony up for its

own problems with those defective ignition switches, and those -- that problem led to several dozen deaths. we're not even talking about a safety issue really, with the volkswagen scandal, and yet it set aside an amount of money equivalent to a huge safety scandal with general motors. it's just -- this is a kind of an incredible story. it's incredible that this company could have been so stupid and look what it's doing to the company's performance and it's bottom line. france today became the latest country to launch an investigation into the volkswagen emissions scandal. a pharmaceutical firm is on the defensive today responding to the anger that followed a 5,000% price hike of a drug used to treat infections. some politicians are taking a closer look at drug praying. john henry smith is following the story. >> reporter: shortly after

purchasing darapin from another drug maker, the ceo raised the price from $13.50 to $750. people suffering from conditions like aids, malaria and cancer depend on the medication it fight a parasitic infection. when the huge price hike was rerealed on monday, there was widespread condemnation. hillary clinton tweeted, price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous. her comments almost immediately sent u.s. biotech stocks plum t plummeting loses $15 billion in value. he responded by taking on critics on twitter, at times using aggressive language. in one tweet he wrote, it seems like the media immediately points a finger at me so i point one back at them but not the index or pinky. during an appearance on bloomberg news, the former hedge fund manager struck a less aggressive tone explaining the

price hike. >> this is from the 1940s. we could make a better drug for in disease. we're spending tens of millions of dollars to make a better version that is more effective, less toxic. it's a very toxic drug, and they deserve a drug company turning a fair profit and also developing a drug that is better for them. zo john henry smith, al jazeera. goldman sachs ceo says he has cancer. he revealed ease been diagnosed with lymphoma. he's told his form of cancer is highly curable. he won't step down from his role at the company while he undergoes treatment. the european un leaders voted on a plan to relocate 120,000 asylum-seekers across member states. now, the plan is backed by germany and other big powers. it will likely, though, face push-back from eastern european countries like hungary and slovakia that voiced fierce

opposition to a quota system. thousands are flooding the border. these are live pictures right now of refugees at a makeshift camp on the border as the evening sets in. they try to make it to german after being shut out of hungary. jackie has more on today's developments. >> the first thing that's significant is it was not a consensus. that's really the way in which european union sdis-making is generally made. the idea that everybody will agree together. it was clear they were not going to get a consensus decision on this highly divisive issue. in the end they decided to go for majority vote. we understand that the countries that voted against the proposal were the czech republic, slovakia, hungary, romania, and finland apparently abstained but the other countries voted for it. the political implications of this clearly is that yes, they have this decision. however, on the other hand there's more bitterness by the

countries of eastern europe who will feel they were bullied and strong armed into a decision to take refugees that they don't necessarily want. in fact, they're arguing that those refugees don't even necessarily want to be in their countries either. so a decision, yes, but at the expense of yet more eu division on top of the disarray and division we've seen in the last few weeks. the dutch foreign minister said today the only way to stop the european refugee crisis is to end the war in syria, but that war involving isil showing no signs of letting up anytime soon. a new group is back in syria. the u.s. military trained want rebels in turkey. the obama administration has been under criticism recently about its strategy to combat isil. last week general lloyd austin admitted a handful of rebels trained by the u.s. were still fighting in syria. >> four palestinian children

have been detained by israeli soldiers in east jerusalem. they were stopped on their way home from school suspected of throwing stones at soldiers. 25 palestinian children have been arrested recently. the israeli army has deployed thousands of officers in jerusalem before two important holidays, yom kippur and eade. up next on al jazeera america. >> i'm jake ward in california. scientists are so concerned about sequoias they're climbing up into them to take measurements, and i, god willing, am about to try to do the same thing.

a texas teen that got in trouble at school because of a homemade clock ended up being a vip at the google science fair. he did not enter the competition but met with others who did. clearly, he's a rock star there. the 14-year-old was arrested last week after teachers say they suspected his clock was a bomb. speaking to ali velshi, he said he's trying to move past it and focus on the future. >> i'm not okay going back to my school because it didn't feel good about what happened there. i don't want to go back to that. they can apologize, but it won't change anything because what's done was down. >> he officially withdrew from his school on monday. his family is still deciding on a new school.

senate democrats have unveiled tough new rules aimed to slow climate change. the measure is to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 34% by 2025. it also requires power companies to use alternative energy and extend clean energy tax credits until 2018. pope francis is expected to bring up climate change in his speech to congress later this week. climate change and drought may be taking a toll on california's giant sequoias. the ancient trees are losing limbs and needles like scientists have never even before. as science and technology course pent jacob ward explains, now they're trying to find an answer to keep these trees alive. >> they were losing their older needles, their older leaves in amounts that were -- i'd never seen before. >> reporter: giant sequoias like this are very, very special. they're the largest organisms on earth and they are ancient. after four years of drought and the warming effects of climate

change, researchers are now worried about their future. at roughly 2,500 years old, this one predates christianity and islam. more importantly for today is how tall it is. it's over 75 meters, more than 240 feet tall. scientists are going to go up in it today to try and take water samples and god help me, i'm going to follow them. oh, man. anthony ambrose leads a team from berkeley. he climbs to the top of degrees to test them for signs of stress. he's done it for about 20 years. this is my first time. i could use somebody playing house music in the parking lot, and i just realized that that's my heart. eventual i made it, and the climb taught me a new respect for the scientists and the tree itself. to be up in this massive thing, you can just tell u-feel the

weight of history in the weight of this tree. so it's extraordinary to be here. here's the view. check this out. warmer temperatures mean the trees need enormous amounts of water. >> typical giant sequoia tree of this side might use 500 to 800 gallons of water in a single summer day. >> reporter: trouble is the sierra snowpack that provides water to trees throughout the summer as it melts is now at a 500-year low. the sequoias seem to be the healthiest of the bunch, as much as a quarter of the population of other types of trees are dying of thirst. >> the sugar pine seems to be suffering a lot of mortality that we've seen. ponderosa pine as well. incense cedar has been dying back at a rate that people in the park have never seen before. >> i'm going to show you something that i have not looked

at yet. ready? unbelievable. now i'm going to try to come down. that was a by far the scariest thing i've done. i've never felt so insignificant. this may be the last time that scientists climb these trees. part of this project is to test the accuracy of the carnegie airborne observatory, which is conducted fly-over observations of whole forests at once. >> typically in the past we've missed most of the forest and tried to make an inference about the forest from samples from a few trees. with the advent of imaging spec trom tri, this has enabled us to collect data over enormous spatial scales that wouldn't have been possible in the past. >> the sequoias are surviving this so far. but the team points out that the combinings combings of the

drought and rising temperatures is unprecedented. >> now that we're in the fourth year of this severe drought, they still seem to be holding up pretty well. if we had another year as severe as this one, i'd say all bets are off. >> reporter: this tree was a seedling during the roman empire, and an adolescent when mohammed was alive. the histories history of the united states is a tiny fraction of the past. the question is whether it and its kind can survive here in the future. jacob ward, al jazeera, sierra national park, california. >> beautiful. researchers have found a new kind of dinosaur in alaska. the fossils were found in rock form 69 million years ago. the dinosaur ate plants and has been named ancient grazer. they were about 30 feet long. thank you for joining us. i'm richelle carey. the news continues li from doha. for your headlines go to

website, aljazeera.com. thanks for your time. keep it here. this is al jazeera. hello everyone. you're watching the news hour live from london. coming up in the next 60 minutes. europe agrees to take in refugees despite fierce opposition from some countries. the fighting continues in his country. yemen's president returns from a six-month exile in saudi arabia. and big crowd gather in the capital of buick foss